Shuttle and guiding structure therefor



Jan. 28, 1969 2. RAMBOUSEK ET AL SHUTTLE AND GUIDING STRUCTURE THEREFOR Sheet 1 of 2 Filed Sept. 7, 1966 l N VE N TORS RambaaSe/f Zdezzk Jan. 28, 1969 2. RAMBCUSEK ET Al- 3,424,206

SHUTTLE AND GUIDING STRUCTURE THEREFOR Filed Sept. 7, 1966 Sheet 2 of 2 INVENIORS. Zdezzk fiamboaselfi Vfadimz? 5 Va z Labamzl Tafz''elf United States Patent 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The shuttle of a weaving loom has an elongated wide base and an elongated guide rib on the base. The base slides over the guide face of a reed assembly transversely of the reed blades during weaving while the rib, which projects from the base away from the reed, is guided in a row of stationary spaced fingers whose free end portions form respective bights conformingly to receive the rib, the width of the base being greater than the corresponding dimension of the free end portions. The base thus prevents warp threads from being caught between the rib and the guide fingers.

The present invention relates to weaving looms.

More particularly, the present invention relates to shuttles for weaving looms and to structure for guiding a shuttle as it moves through the shed of warp yarns.

Thus, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved shuttle and structure for guiding the latter.

There are several known systems for guiding shuttles for movement through the warp shed of a weaving loom. For example, with one conventional system the shuttle is guided by elongated guide elements which extend around the shuttle from a number of different sides thereof, and with these conventional structures the Weft is drawn out of the shuttle guiding elements through a special opening. Such shuttle guiding structure is difiicult and expensive to manufacture. Furthermore, this structure requires an undesirably large distance between the reed and the shuttle, with the result that the shuttle becomes situated in the immediate vicinity of the shed during the weaving operations, so that there is an increased chance for the shuttle to engage the warp yarns. An increased distance between the shuttle and the reed is also of disadvantage with respect to the movement of the parts during the weaving operations because the weft cannot readily be held reliably by the shuttle at all times.

There are other known arrangements for guiding the shuttle, utilizing special systems for moving the frame which carries the reed as well as the reed itself along predetermined paths with a special system of shuttle guiding elements, but all of the conventional structures provided for this purpose have not achieved a fully satisfactory solution to the problem.

A guide for the shuttle along the path of movement of the reed-supporting frame requires an extremely accurate adjustment for the elevation of the warp shed. Structures which are situated entirely above the shed for guiding the shuttle make it difficult to move the warp yarns and increase the inertia of the reed frame.

The primary disadvantage of all of the conventional arrangements, however, resides in the fact that with these known structures it is impossible to prevent cutting of 3,424,206 Patented Jan. 28, 1969 the yarns between the shuttle and its guides during the weaving operations.

It is thus a primary object of the present invention to provide a shuttle and guiding structure therefor which will avoid all of the above drawbacks.

Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a shuttle which as it moves through the shed will reliably spread apart any warp yarns which are situated too close to each other so as to situate these warp yarns outwardly beyond the locations where the shuttle guiding structure engages the shuttle. In this way, it is impossible to in any way damage the warp yarns with the shuttle or shuttle guiding structure of the invention.

In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a shuttle and shuttle guiding structure which is exceedingly simple and inexpensive while at the same time providing a precise reliable guide for the shuttle.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction which will continue to operate reliably even after the guiding structure becomes worn by repeated sliding contact with the shuttle.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction where the location of the areas of engagement between the shuttle guiding structure and the shuttle are reliably prevented from coming into contact with the warp yarns either during introduction of the shuttle into the shed or during movement of the shuttle out of the shed.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation showing the Warp shed and illustrating the shuttle of the invention, in an end view thereof, together with the guiding structure for the shuttle;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective illustration of the shuttle and shuttle guiding structure of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of a shuttle guiding finger of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary end view of the upper portion of the guide finger of FIG. 3 as seen from the right of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a transverse section, on an enlarged scale, as compared to FIG. 3, of part of the upper guiding portion of the finger shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 illustrating in particular the cross sectional configuration of the guide finger at a location Where it engages the shuttle to guide the latter.

As may be seen from FIG. 1, the shuttle 1 has a substantially T-shaped cross section. The shuttle 1 includes a relatively wide elongated base 2, which is relatively flat, as indicated in FIG. 2 as well as in FIG. 1, and at its front end 3 the shuttle 1 is tapered so as to have a substantially pointed front end 3. The relatively wide elongated base 2 of the shuttle has a rear surface which fixedly carries an elongated guide rib 4 which extends longitudinally of the shuttle and which is situated midway between the side edges of its base 2. This guide rib 4 is situated at the rear surface of the shuttle to the rear of the pointed front end 3 thereof, and the rib 4 is substantially shorter than the base 2. This guiding rib 4 preferably has in cross section the configuration of an isosceles triangle with the apex of the triangle, which is distant from the base 2, being rounded, as is particularly apparent from FIG. 1.

That end of the rib 4 which is distant from the pointed front end 3 of the shuttle serves at the same time as an impact end of the shuttle capable of coacting with a piston rod 5 of an unillustrated and known shuttle driving structure which serves to introduce the shuttle at one side of the shed into the latter for movement thereacross. The

3 other end of the rib 4, which is adjacent the pointed front end 3 of the shuttle, also serves as an impact end of the shuttle for the purpose of reversing the movement of the shuttle from the other side of the loom.

The loom includes a reed means 9 composed of a plurality of reed blades 8 between Which the warp yarns extend to form a shed whose narrow end is situated on one side of the blades 8, as is particularly apparent from FIG. 1 where the narrow end of the shed is situated at the right side of the blades 8. This right side of the blades 8 of the reed means 9 forms a guide surface 7 of the reed means, and this guide surface 7 slidably engages the base surface 6 of the fiat shuttle body 2.

The reed means 9 is supported in a conventional manner by a support means 10 in the form of a frame which carries the reed means and moves it in a conventional manner during the weaving operations. This support means 10 carries elongated gripping strips 11 and 12 which grip between themselves the guide fingers 13 of the invention, and the arrangement is such that these guide fingers 13 form a comb-type of construction, as is particularly apparent from FIG. 2.

Each guide finger 13 has an elongated shank 14 which is gripped between the strips 11 and 12 and an upper guiding portion 15 of a substantially U-shaped or V- shaped configuration whose bight conforms generally to the cross sectional configuration of the guide rib 4. Referring to FIG. 3, the inner periphery 16, 17 of each upper guiding portion 15 of each guide finger 13 slidably engages the rib, and each of these inner portions 16 and 17 of each upper guiding portion 15 has a configuration conforming to the exterior surface of the guide rib 4 so that the portions 16 and 17 respectively engage opposed side surfaces of the rib 4 at a pair of rib-engaging areas for the purpose of guiding the shuttle.

As may be seen from FIG. 5, each rib-engaging surface 16 and 17 of each guiding portion is narrower than the maximum cross sectional dimension of the guide finger, this cross section becoming gradually wider as it recedes away from the rib-engaging surface 16 or 17, and in the illustrated example the guide finger 13 is of a substantially circular cross section, although this cross section could just as well be more of an oval configuration than the particular circular configuration shown in FIG. 5. Thus, it will be seen that the width of the guide surfaces 16 and 17, even after they have become worn, will be substantially less than the maximum diameter of the cross sectional area of the guide finger. Thus, initially, when the guide fingers are new, they may have a point or line contact with the rib 4, and after a period of use this area of contact will increase to approach something like that K which is illustrated on an enlarged scale in FIG. 5, but even in this case the maximum diameter of the cross section of the guide finger will not be exceeded. In this way, even a worm guiding surface of a guide finger cannot come into engagement with the Warp yarns 19 and either during introduction of the shuttle into the shed or during movement of the shuttle out of the shed, so that damaging of the warp yarns at the guide surfaces of the fingers 13 is reliably avoided.

The upper guiding head portion 15 of each guide finger 13 tapers at its top end in a substantially pointed portion 18, shown particularly in FIG. 4, so that during movement of the guide fingers 13 with respect to the warp yarns, and/or during movement of the warp yarns with respect to the guide fingers, there will never be at the interengaging portions of the warp yarns and guide fingers any possibility of damaging of the warp yarns. The elevation of the guide fingers 13 is chosen in such a way that the shuttle 1, by means of the location of the upper guiding portions 15 of the guide fingers, is situated approximately at half the height of the Warp shed.

The above described structure operates in the following manner:

The shuttle 1 is introduced into the shed formed by the warp yarns 19 and 20 from opposite sides of the shed with the aid of the piston rod 5 of an unillustrated shuttle-driving and shuttle-introducing structure. The piston rod 5 engages an end of the rib 4 and in this way places the shuttle 1 on its path of movement. The shuttle 1 is guided by the slidable engagement of its base surface 6 with the guide surface 7 of the reed means, this surface 7 being formed by edges of the parallel reed blades 8, while the path of movement for the guide rib 4 is determined by the inner rib-engaging surface portions 16 and 17 of the guiding portions 15 of the fingers 13.

1 When the guide fingers 13 enter into the shed from below, so that the comb of guide fingers 13 pass upwardly through the lower warp yarns, these warp yarns will not be damaged because the upper pointed portions 18 of the guide fingers 13 will gently and smoothly move past the warp yarns without tearing the latter.

When the shed is formed this way, it happens that some of the warp yarns of the upper and lower groups 19 and 20 are not fully open and assume a position indicated for the warp yarns 19 and 20 in dotted lines in FIG. 1. With a conventional shuttle such warp yarns 19 and 20' are directly engaged by the shuttle which drives right through these warp yarns or which cuts them between the shuttle and its guiding elements.

However, with the shuttle of the invention and is guiding structure, the shuttle will not damage the warp yarns because the tapered front end 3 of the shuttle will smoothly engage yarns such as the yarns 19' and 20' and will gently spread them apart from each other so that they engage the rounded edges 25 and 26 of the relatively wide base 2 of the shuttle. Thus, the shuttle itself forms from the warp yarns 19 and 20' the opposite sides of a triangle whose base is formed by the transverse width of the shuttle base 2. The warp yarns extend beyond the rounded edges 25 and 26 of the shuttle through the eyes 21 and 22 of the heddles 23 and 24, respectively, so that these heddle eyes form a triangle base not only with the warp yarns when they have the positions 19 and 20 but also with the warp yarns when they have the position 19" and 20", and since the warp yarns are displaced to this latter position by the shuttle of the invention the triangle formed by way of the warp yarns themselves has its size increased by the shuttle of the invention. The larger triangle whose sides are formed by the warp yarns in this way is situated outwardly beyond the rib-engaging portions 16 and 17 of the upper guiding portions 15 of the guide fingers 13 of the invention, so that in this way the shuttle of the invention reliably acts to situate the warp yarns along the sides of a triangle inwardly of which the guide surfaces 16 and 17 are located. The result of the location of the warp yarns outwardly beyond the guide surfaces 16 and 17 prevents the warp yarns from being damaged at these guide surfaces. Thus, it will be noted that the location of the pointed front end 3 of the shuttle at a substantial distance forwardly of the front end of the guide rib 4 gives the base of the shuttle sufficient opportunity to locate the warp yarns, if they happen to be at the locations 19' and 20, at the locations 19" and 20" before the guide rib engages the guide surfaces 16 and 17 of a guide finger 13, so that by the time there is such engagement between the guide rib 4 and the guide fingers the warp yarns are of necessity situated outwardly beyond the surfaces 16 and 17, and damage of the warp yarns at these surfaces is reliably prevented.

Moreover, referring to FIG. 1, the fact that the total height B of the shuttle is substantially less than the width A thereof is also of advantage in the event of improper movement of the shuttle through the shed, since any weaving of the shuttle directly into the yarns will not result in breaking of the warp yarns but will only result in a lengthening thereof.

We claim:

1. In a weaving loom, the combination of a support, reed means carried by said support and having warp threads passing therethrough, a shuttle movable transversely of said reed means, said shuttle including a relatively wide base having one side thereof in sliding engagethem with the reed means and a relatively narrow guiding rib provided on the other side of said base, and a plurality of guide fingers carried by said support at points spaced transversely of said reed means, said fingers having guide portions slidably engageable by said rib of the shuttle during movement of the latter transversely of the reed means, the width of said shuttle base in relation to the shuttle rib and to the guide portions of said fingers being such that during movement of the shuttle, longitudinal edges of the shuttle base spread apart and separate the warp threads sufiiciently to provide clearance for the shuttle rib and for the guide portions of the fingers engaged by the rib, whereby to prevent catching of the threads between the rib and the finger guide portions.

2. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein the guide portions of said fingers are provided with tapered extremities for deflecting and passing between the warp threads.

3. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein said shuttle rib has a substantially triangular cross-section presenting a pair of converging guide surfaces, the guide portion of each of said fingers being substantially V-shaped and presenting a pair of diverging surfaces slidably engageable by the respective guide surfaces of said rib.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 136,501 3/1873 Gartenmann 139-188 2,095,576 10/1937 Shimwell 139 188 2,649,118 8/1953 Heath "139-144 2,833,315 5/1958 Dunham 139 188 2,942,627 6/1960 McDowell 139 188 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,366,611 6/1964 France.

JAMES KEE CHI, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 139-125 

